The second night in a row at the Family Dog, this show is yet another continuation of the exceptional output they were offering in the underrated final months of 1969.

I don’t think this year’s Dead & Company residency in Las Vegas is in the cards for me. As such, I had resigned myself to the possibility of going months without attending any live shows. Part of me even worried that perhaps I’d seen my last Dead gig. Lo and behold, Phil Lesh books a Capitol Theatre run, Bob Weir is suddenly scheduled to play the Apollo Theater, and Tom Constanten has stops in Buffalo and Syracuse set up for April. Having joyfully rounded up tickets, I had to celebrate with a Grateful Dead show featuring all three of these gentlemen.

A year or two ago I listened to the previous night’s performance, 11/1/69. That show is excellent, so I had high hopes for 11/2/69. It does not disappoint. Interestingly, 7 of these 13 songs were performed by the boys at least as far back as 1966. In that sense, it’s very much still a ‘60s show, with not a small amount of that deeply psychedelic bay area prankster coloring. However, the 1969 lineup was deeper by two. The sound was richer, and more expansive. As such, these are much heavier versions of Cold Rain and Snow, Midnight Hour, etc. than the ones you’ll hear out of a ‘66 or ‘67 gig. Constanten was a great addition on keys, and he freed up Pigpen to add percussion via tambourine. Add Mickey Hart to the mix, and you’re really putting a new layer on the music.

Along with those trusted acid test-era oldies, this show also features a rare, beautiful Seasons of My Heart. I’ll always maintain that some of Bob Weir’s very best craftsmanship can be found in his 1969-1970 renditions of country tunes.

The Dark Star is mesmeric, packed with various spur-of-the-moment brushes, as well as preconceived themes, some of which they’d continue to build on in the Dark Stars to come in 1970 and 1971. The rest of the sequence, St. Stephen > The Eleven > Death Don’t Have No Mercy, is on par with the renditions from earlier in 1969. There had to be more to this show; Lovelight? Cosmic Charlie? Who knows?

This one is great. Lively, invigorated, heavy and trippy. A true dandy that’s typical of the era.

Seasons come, seasons go
We get a little sunshine, rain and snow
Just the way that it was planned to be

There are currently three versions of this show on Archive.org:

- the first one ‘goodbear 1124’ (uploaded 2004)
https://archive.org/details/gd69-11-02.sbd.goodbear.1125.sbefail.shnf/gd69_11_02-03DarkStar.shn

- the second one ‘miller 32350’ (uploaded 2008)
https://archive.org/details/gd1969-11-02.sbd.miller.32350.sbeok.flac16/gd69-11-02d2t01.flac

- this one ‘miller 32273’ (uploaded 2009)
https://archive.org/details/gd1969-11-02.sbd.miller.32273.flac16

This one appears to be essentially the same as the second one ‘miller 32350’ except that this one has the severe digital distortion in Dark Star at 5:30–5:37 and 5:55–6:07 as mentioned in previous comments. So switch over to ‘miller 32350’ before you get too far into Dark Star and get your groove interrupted: https://archive.org/details/gd1969-11-02.sbd.miller.32350.sbeok.flac16/gd69-11-02d2t01.flac

Despite Jerry's statement, this show is a monster. Heavy on Pigpen, even without a Lovelight. The Darkstar is one for the ages; in addition to the digi noise noted in the review below, there is also about 10 seconds of digi beginning at 5:57.

Sit back and enjoy . . .

http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/10/family-dog-at-great-highway-660-great.html

I wouldn't discount this Dark Star in the least.
For '69 this DS is second best to 4/22 imo.

Good Lovin' and Death Don't have No Mercy are excellent and the show as a whole is killer.

At the end of St Steven---> Eleven Jerry howls... its one of my favorite moments in Dead History. Well worth One Thousand Listens

I'm actually going to revise my earlier review and say that the first part of the show, from cold rain through good lovin, is excellently done, while the rest kinda brings it down a notch. I think that by this time they were really tired of the psychedelic jam rock tunes they were doing and that the inevitable transition to their folk-rock stuff was already long overdue.

epic sound clarity & deepthhh.....\
BEST 11 4 me,
best darkstar,
best jammin ever 48 min of BLISS !!!!!
best ever C Miller thanks again for the grace2My Ears.
peace
Bass is BEYOND amazing , phil should always sound so deep&clear. top 10 ever

This is one of my favorite Stars, Sounds like this was the eve of the birth of Eyes of the World. Just close your eyes and let it flow thru you, let it wash over and take you Further.

The show starts off heavily dosed but Pig does his best to pull them though. And he does. Great Harp playing by Pigpen here (3 Pig songs in a row!!!). Set 2 they pull it together and deliver.
Its the Family Dog and they where having fun... This is the best "Death Don't Have No Mercy" I have ever heard!!! listen all the way through to the end! really excellent

Does anyone know if the song order is correct? I find it just a tad peculiar that there are 3 Pigpen songs in a row. I'm SURE that never happened in '71 or '72, if ever.

Definitely a five-star show, and a reminder that without Ron, it wasn't really The Grateful Dead.

starts out as "Feelin' Groovy" then almost comes to a full stop @22:44 before 'morphing into a hybrid of sorts containing, I think, "Feelin' Groovy," "Tighten Up," and "Beginnings."

Thank you, Charlie Miller!

Once more Charlie Miller has found a gem and polished to near perfection.

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5 stars for the mix
5 stars for the recording
5 stars for the perfomance
5 stars for Charlie Miller transfer

There is 7 seconds of audio noise in "Dark Star" from 5:16 - 5:23 in both channels so "be prepared", but hey it's a 30 minute and 06 second long incredible performance.

Pigpen and Garcia sing "Next Time You See Me".

The Internet Archive recommends RealPlayer for streaming and downloading for users of Windows XP. It has a "FREE" 3 band equalizer for playback.

Once you've downloaded the music play it back in Windows Media Player and use its 10 band equalizer to dial in the sound to your liking.

I recommend using your EQ on almost all the GRATEFUL DEAD shows on the IA.

November 2, 1969 is certainly a "Must Have" for all collectors of 1969 GRATEFUL DEAD shows.

Get it while you can, get it while it's free, get it now, or you'll be sorry.

Eat, Drink, Be Merry, and Listen to the GRATEFUL DEAD.

Thanks for the Love.

PS: I recommend clicking on Charlie Miller's name and collecting all his GRATEFUL DEAD shows, he has impeccable taste.